Mother, child get carbon monoxide scare

Two Rockwood residents were taken to a local hospital after carbon monoxide was detected in their apartment building.

Crews arrived at 402 Main St. after a carbon monoxide alarm alerted residents at 3:57 a.m. Tuesday. There are two apartments in the building where five people lived. A mother and her baby were taken to Somerset Hospital where they were treated and released, Rockwood first assistant chief Mike Felesky said. He declined to release any of the residents’ names.

Ashes from a coal furnace caused the odorless gas to travel through the building.

“They removed hot ashes from the coal furnace and put them in a wheel barrel and never took them outside,” Felesky said.

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When crews arrived, two adults were outside.

“They told us two more adults and the baby were inside the building,” Felesky said. “We had to go in and get the baby out.”

If a carbon monoxide alarm sounds, people should leave their house immediately, Felesky said. But people should keep the doors and windows shut until crews arrive.

“If you vent it before we get there, we can’t pinpoint the cause,” Felesky said. “The best thing to do is leave all the doors and windows shut and just get out.”

Felesky said the residents were fortunate to have a carbon monoxide alarm. Often dubbed the silent killer, carbon monoxide cannot be detected without an alarm.

“It is odorless, colorless and tasteless,” he said. “It builds up and builds up until people are overcome by it. You’ll never know what’s really happening to you.”

Dr. Shomendra Moitra, head of the emergency department at Somerset Hospital, said people who come to the ER with carbon monoxide exposure have several complaints, including loss of consciousness, report of a fall, chest pains, nausea and headache.

“We take the context of the complaint and try to piece it together to make a tentative diagnosis,” he said.

A general rule of thumb is if someone has 25 percent carbon monoxide instead of oxygen in their system, they may need to be transferred to a hospital with a hyperbaric chamber. Moitra added that smokers have 10 to 15 percent carbon monoxide in their system daily.

“It depends on the environment,” he said. “If they are unconscious, not responding to treatment, they need to go to a chamber. If a patient is pregnant or having problems with their unborn child, they need to go to a chamber. Different people respond in different ways to different levels.”

Carbon monoxide poisoning is not common in Somerset County, Moitra said.

“There is a fair number that come in and think they have been exposed,” he said. “We test them and they have not.”

Carbon monoxide is an odorless, tasteless gas.

“If someone says they smelled something, it is usually not carbon monoxide,” he said.

The medical test to check for poisoning is non-evasive, Moitra said.

“It’s best to get checked out,” he said. “Not being treated properly could cause some long-term issues, which are more costly than coming to the emergency room.”

A little known fact about carbon monoxide poisoning is 40 percent of people who had significant exposure have neurological complaints about six to nine months after recovery, Moitra said.

“They are very subtle, cognitive deficits, personality changes,” he said.